It was very late at night. To celebrate the third month of school, I had turned my computer on for the first time in 7 days. I planned on playing as late into the night as humanly possible without falling asleep on my keyboard. My dad was kind of iffy, but he decided to let me as long as I was quiet and didn't do it again for a few weeks. The clock read 11:15 p.m. By now, I had decided to take a break from flash games and was trying out ones I'd already downloaded.

An icon caught my eye. Huh. I'd 'bout forgotten about that one.

I clicked it.

I named the fallen human "Avalyn" and hit continue.

Ahhh. Good ol' nostalgia.

Putz around… Oh, hello, Flowey. Still not overfond of you and your pellets. Run into them? I think not. Dodge. Fume. Dodge. Fume. Dodge. Tries to kill me and gets booted off the screen by Toriel.

And so it continues.

Ah, snowdin at last. Ominous trees, ho hum.

Sans runs his script again.

My sprite turns around, sticks out its arm.

But instead of a whoopee cushion, a bizarre grating static sound scissored through the silence.

Sans' sprite loses its smile.

"*what-"

The screen goes black.

I make an irritated noise in the back of my throat, pressing the power button on my PC. Zilch. Tch. That's annoying. The one time I feel in the mood to lose myself in happy remembrance, the game glitches and my computer dies. Ah, well. Can't rush a complicated piece of technology. I stand up and pad down the stairs in sock feet, feeling peckish. Don't think an apple will go amiss…

There's a noise in the basement.

My heart rate immediately accelerates. Ugh, stupid thing. Really regretting those suspense/thrillers on Netflix. It's probably just Hobbes or something. Hopefully Hobbes. I pick up an apple from the fruit bowl (dad hates them cold. They kill his teeth) and head to the door. Nothing creaks, of course- silence is important for someone who works odd hours- except for the fourth step down, but it'd almost be like breaking a tradition to fix it. So says my dad. I flick on the light. A single bare bulb lights up the room. Since the basement's corner shaped, I can't see all of it. I almost pick up a piece of discarded plumbing before catching myself and laughing. It sounds tight, strained and uneasy. Idiot. Just your imagination.

Another rasping noise.

Just your imagination.

I step down the eight steps. A lucky number- it occurred in the Fibonacci sequence, was even, and wasn't prime.

Luck.

As I step onto the frigid cement floor, a ball of terrified fur explodes into my legs. I give a tiny, undignified scream, then relax. "Gosh, Hobbes, you almost gave me a heart attack." My cat doesn't even acknowledge my voice, instead huddling around my legs like a horrified scarf. I try to pick him up and get an armful of claws instead. What had him so scared? This was the cat that had attacked a frigging pit bull and sent it running with scars to remember him by. Maybe it was something stupid, like a leak or something.

I roll my eyes and turn the corner(warily, but don't tell anyone).

The old mirror in the basement-cracked, warped, and missing a few corners- was covered in oily black shadow.

At its clawed feet was someone eerily familiar.

Oh, God.

What indeed.

This can't be happening-

I have to be insane-

Nothing makes sense anymore-

How can this be possible-

Nothing-

How-

How is he here?!

Okay. Okay. Deep breath. Wig out later, get it under control now.

Sans draws another raking breath. I flinch, and look down at Hobbes for support. He looks at me with the most frightened expression on the planet. I almost start laughing, but I cut myself off, because I know that if I start I'll never be able to quit.

Okay. No monster food. I have no idea how to heal Sa-

Oh.

Could do that.

I mean, there's a lot of technicalities, but who knows. Maybe I could do this.

I have to do this.

I'm terrified of him crumbling to dust if I touch him, so instead I try to bring out my soul- making hand motions, fingerspelling "out", until finally the world dissolves into black and white.

Whoa.

This is awesome.

Okay, fangirl later. You've got a job to do.

I can see my soul, his soul, my dad's, thousands more fading with distance- even Hobbes has a little wisp of a thing, ha. While everyone else's is in color, Sans' soul is white as snow. Huh. Color pictures in black and white, maybe?

Ugh. Focus, me.

So. How do you… heal someone… with a soul? Bandaids, yes, salve, yes. Souls? I have no earthly clue.

Well. Unearthly.

I reach out to Sans' soul. Prolly a huge breach of etiquette, but what the heck. Within four inches, I feel Sans' HP. Or rather, lack of. It's low. Too low; it has to be something insane like 0.6.

Oh, great. Crudmuffins. Crapola. SHI-

How do I fill it somebody help meeeee

SANS DON'T YOU DARE DUST ON ME DON'T YOU DA-

The emptiness evens out with a plink.

Whoof. Now I feel exhausted. Ugh. His HP is filled though, which is a load off my consciousness. I relax, the world fades back into color, and Sans is breathing correctly again, albeit with a downright enormous frown on his face that looks etched into the bone.

I have so completely given up on reality by now.

I carry Sans up the stairs, Hobbes giving me a look of shocked betrayal. He's simultaneously lighter and heavier than I expected- not as heavy as he would be if he had skin and muscle and organs, but his clothes make him heavier than just a skeleton. I feel like my brain is separated from my body- or at least, it has to be; otherwise I'd be screaming my head off.

Ugh.

Thank God for weekends.

This is the first chapter! *lobs notebook at you* TAKE IT AND BE GRATEFUL

I'm a strong believer in the whole "Magic is just unexplained science", so if I do indeed continue this there will be scientific opinions! Yay!